MDG Advertisinghttps://www.mdgadvertising.com
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 14:14:42 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8Is Long-Form Video on Social Media the New TV?https://www.mdgadvertising.com/marketing-insights/is-long-form-video-on-social-media-the-new-tv/
Thu, 31 Jan 2019 20:06:38 +0000https://www.mdgadvertising.com/?p=31628How quickly things change on social media. Just a few years ago, video on these platforms was all about the short and sweet: creators were told to focus mainly on “snackable” pieces that could be consumed quickly.

Today, the hot new thing is long-form video. Last year, Facebook reportedly spent up to $1 billion on lengthier content and Google dedicated hundreds of millions of dollars to original YouTube programming; Twitter has invested heavily in live video streams, especially from sports leagues; Snapchat now has shows from major media companies; and Instagram got into the game last year with its IGTV offering.

What’s going on? Why are social platforms pushing shows and other long-form content? Are consumers watching? Are advertisers interested? Is social set to dethrone television and platforms like Netflix in the coming years?

Recently, eMarketer published an in-depth report examining these questions. Here are five of the key takeaways from the data:

1. Why Are Social Platforms Focused on Long-Form?Why are social networks embracing long-form video? In part, because over the past few years this type of content has been proven to work online.

According to ThinkNow Research data cited by eMarketer, some 61% of adult Americans say they now watch shows on Netflix, 33% on Amazon Prime Video, and 24% on Hulu. This demonstrates that a sizable share of people have become used to watching lengthier digital pieces.

More broadly, watching online video, especially on mobile devices, is becoming central to the lives of consumers: eMarketer estimates that 84% of Internet users will be frequent watchers of digital video content by 2021 and 83% will be using mobile devices to watch video content. This means that there will be an ever-growing hunger for digital video in the coming years.

2. Does Money Have Something to Do with the Shift?Of course, social networks aren’t diving into long-firm video simply because they see a potential for engaging audiences. The larger opportunity, at least from a business perspective, is to garner a larger share of spend from advertisers.

According to IAB data, as cited by eMarketer, half of agency and marketing professionals plan to increase their spend on social media videos in the near future and 40% plan to increase their spend on TV shows online.

Given that, expanding into long-form video solves two problems for the platforms: it opens up additional inventory for brands looking to advertise via video on social media and it entices marketers looking to advertise via online TV shows.

3. Are People Willing to Watch Longer Videos on Social?The shift to long-form video clearly makes sense for the social platforms, but is it actually what audiences want? After years of being conditioned to expect short clips on various networks, are people open to lengthier content on social?

The answer appears to be—at least right now—that younger audiences are much more ready for this evolution compared with older audiences.

According to a Shareablee survey cited by eMarketer, some 47% of social media users in the US ages 18–24 say they would watch their favorite television shows on social media. This compares with 38% of social media users ages 25–54 and just 23% of social media users age 55+.

4. So, Is Long-form Succeeding on Social Now?So, what’s the current state of the social networks’ strategies? Have audiences started to embrace long-form video on the platforms?

The shift toward video content overall has clearly been a success: according to a Cowen and Company survey, as cited by eMarketer, among US social media users, 51% now watch video on Facebook, 48% watch on Instagram, and 30% watch on Twitter.

The status of long-form pieces is harder to discern. A Morgan Stanley AlphaWise survey, as cited by eMarketer, found that 40% of US Facebook users age 16+ say they now view Facebook Watch content weekly. However, a Raymond James survey found that three-quarters of US Facebook users say they never view Facebook Watch content.

5.Will Long-Form Succeed on Social in the Long Run?Given that long-form pieces on social media are relatively new, the more pessimistic estimates on current viewing behavior could very well be correct. It’s very likely that audiences have not yet fully embraced this sort of content.

However, that doesn’t mean that they won’t. An IAB survey, as cited by eMarketer, found that while only 40% of US consumers now stream live video on social platforms, 52% of consumers worldwide do so. In other words, at the moment there may be a gap between current behavior in America and what audiences are open to.

So, what should marketers make of all this? The key takeaway is that while long-form video on social media may experience some growing pains in the short run, it’s primed to be hugely important in the long run. There are number of underlying factors—ongoing evolutions in audience behaviors, the rise of younger consumers, increasing advertiser demand, etc.—which indicate that the shift toward lengthier pieces on social media is here to stay, not just a passing fad. Ultimately, while shows on social may not be fully there yet, they likely will become very big, very soon.

]]>9 Video Marketing Trends to Watch in 2019https://www.mdgadvertising.com/marketing-insights/9-video-marketing-trends-to-watch-in-2019/
Mon, 28 Jan 2019 13:01:50 +0000https://www.mdgadvertising.com/?p=31573After years of being seen as an emerging tactic, video marketing has firmly made it to the mainstream. Some 81% of businesses say they now use digital video as a marketing tool and 99% of those that use it plan to continue to do so in the future.

However, this established popularity doesn’t mean that things have stabilized; video marketing continues to change rapidly, with constant shifts in viewer preferences, platform offerings, and advertising options.

What form will this evolution take in the year ahead? Which changes could significantly impact video marketing? Here are nine key trends we believe every brand should watch closely in 2019:

1. The Continued Rise of Ephemeral StoriesWhen it comes to online video, the big story of last year was Stories. This social media content format, in which a combination of image and/or video posts are only accessible for a relatively short period of time, was pioneered by Snapchat and borrowed by Instagram and Facebook.

Stories have steadily become more prominent on social networks and that trend should accelerate in 2019. Why? Because the format is hugely popular, both with audiences and advertisers—more than 400 million people now view Instagram Stories daily and the product is expected to drive video spend on the platform to double.

2. Video Formats Will Continue to DiversifyThe rapid rise of Stories highlights an important fact about digital video today: the formats available to marketers and audiences are becoming increasingly diverse.

This can be seen in a range of areas, including the dizzying array of length and picture-quality options now available to those looking to post video online. Perhaps the clearest example is in aspect ratios. Because watching on smaller screens and viewing vertically are becoming more common, major online platforms are quickly adding more and more display options (Facebook already has at least four different sizes that in-Feed videos can appear in).

3. The Importance Optimizing for No SoundMobile and social media are not only changing the way video is viewed, they’re also changing the way it’s heard. Or, more accurately, they’re changing the way that video is not heard.

Because videos are now often viewed on smartphones in public settings and within social feeds that have the sound off by default, it’s no longer a given that audiences will hear the audio on video pieces. To deal with this, savvy creators have started to develop content that’s not dependent on sound (such the BuzzFeed Food video below). These sorts of optimizations will likely become increasingly important in the year ahead as more and more audiences shift their viewing and listening behaviors.

4. More (and Better) Video Ad Options for MarketersRemember when the only video ad options available to brands online were 15-second and 30-second pre-roll spots? Thankfully, those days are over.

Today, marketers have an incredible number of ad options to choose among, from YouTube’s skippable TrueView ads to Instagram’s immersive Stories ads. And the good news is that this is just the tip of the iceberg: Twitter recently added in-stream video ads, Facebook is intently focused on rolling out new video ad products, and every other platform is working to quickly provide more—and better—options for marketers.

5. The Video-Social Media Bond StrengthensThe attention social media companies are paying to video advertising is part of a larger move by the platforms toward video in general.

This shift is not new, but it’s increasingly clear: Mark Zuckerberg explicitly said at the end of last year that he believes the future of Facebook and Instagram lies in video and that he’ll continue to spend heavily to accelerate the move by pushing initiatives such as funding Facebook Watch content (for example, the Humans of New York Series). For brands, this means that succeeding on social media in the coming years may increasingly become synonymous with succeeding with video.

6. The Video-Search Bond StrengthensJust as social networks are increasingly integrating video into their core offerings, so too are search engines.

Over the past few years, video pieces have started to appear closer and closer to the top of organic search results on both desktop and mobile pages. Now things are going even further: Google recently announced that it would start using AI to identify snippets of video related to search queries and auto-play these directly on results pages. This indicates that video is becoming much more accessible to search engines, which will therefore make it even more important to effective search engine optimization and search-targeted content strategies.

7. Brands Increase Platform-Specific TargetingWhile the explosion of video opportunities online is generally good news for marketers, it also presents a challenge: it’s becoming less and less effective to simply distribute the same piece across the web.

To succeed with video, brands increasingly need to optimize pieces both for the platform and the delivery format. For example, not just for a specific social network, but also for an organic video post versus a Story versus a paid placement. Brands that do this well, such as Drinkfinity with its Snap ad below, are the ones likely to see the biggest return on their video efforts going forward.

8. Informative and Educational Pieces Lose Their StigmaSome 72% of consumers say they want to learn about products and services via video. Yet despite this demand, informative and educational pieces have sometimes been thought of as being boring by marketers and have often taken a back seat to flashier campaigns.

Thankfully, that’s changing. As brands realize the effectiveness of pieces like product showcases and customer testimonials, they’re putting more time, effort, and creativity into these sorts of pieces. Because of that, marketers are increasingly releasing videos—such as the Nike one below—that skillfully showcase both style and substance.

9. The Declining Cost of Video CreationBrands have long understood that digital video can be a powerful tool. The problem has been that it’s been difficult to develop pieces quickly and efficiently. When asked to name their top three challenges, marketers cited that creation is too time-consuming, tools are too complicated, and costs are too high.

Luckily, all of that is changing. Equipment and tools are quickly becoming less expensive and simpler, enabling videos to be created much more quickly, easily, and cheaply than in the past. Case in point: last year director Steven Soderbergh shot “Unsane,” a feature-length film, entirely on an iPhone and edited it in a few hours on his laptop.

This shift in the effort required to produce high-quality pieces highlights an important point: across the board—from how it’s consumed, delivered, and created—online video is quickly getting better. This bodes well for marketers in 2019 and well into the future.

]]>9 Local Marketing Trends to Watch in 2019https://www.mdgadvertising.com/marketing-insights/9-local-marketing-trends-to-watch-in-2019/
Mon, 21 Jan 2019 13:01:48 +0000https://www.mdgadvertising.com/?p=31556Which trends should local marketers be watching this year? What are the tactics, tools, behavioral shifts, and big ideas that every firm should be paying attention to in 2019?

We gazed into our crystal ball—and also went through some recent research reports from top analysts—to find out.

What emerged are these nine key trends that local business marketers should watch closely in the year ahead:

1. The Ever-Growing Importance of Online Reviews and RatingsIt’s no secret that local businesses benefit from having good online reviews and ratings. However, what’s important to realize is that these evaluations are quickly becoming not just nice to have, but absolutely essential.

A recent survey of US consumers found that 86% now regularly consult online reviews and ratings when evaluating local businesses. They’re especially important to younger consumers: half of respondents ages 18–34 say they always read the reviews of a local business and 91% trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

2. Customer Reviews as a Search Engine Optimization TacticBecause online reviews and ratings are so highly valued by consumers, their impact is starting to be felt across a number of different areas of local marketing.

One example is local search engine optimization (SEO). As an analysis by Search Engine Watch found, Google appears to be using high ratings and positive reviews as important signals to determine which mapped local business results get displayed most prominently. This means that without a sizable number of good reviews and ratings, a local business may not be easily found in search.

3. Google My Business as the Starting Point for Digital EffortsSpeaking of Google, it’s hard to overstate how essential Google My Business—its hub for creating and managing online profiles for businesses—is becoming to local marketing.

An analysis by Moz of local search rank factors found that Google My Business elements—the specified address, keywords, categories, etc.—have the most influence on local pack results and the fourth-most influence on organic results overall. In other words, because it’s where so much important information is drawn from, Google My Business is increasingly becoming the starting point for local digital marketing efforts.

4. Facebook Recommendations Become Even More ValuableOf course, Google isn’t the only platform that consumers use to evaluate local businesses. Many also turn to social media—in particular, Facebook—for information and opinions.

The social network has been actively encouraging more of this kind of behavior through a series of recent product changes. These include more robust Business Pages, improved search functionality, and easier options for highlighting things like special events and sales. Most importantly, Facebook has emphasized Recommendations, a feature that allows people to suggest firms they like by using text, photos, and tags. This sort of social proof is highly valued by consumers, and Facebook is likely to emphasize it even more in the months ahead.

5. Improved Online-to-Offline AttributionHave you struggled to connect your online efforts to the real-world actions taken by customers? Are you unsure exactly how effective your digital marketing approaches are?

If so, you’re not alone. This problem has been bedeviling local businesses since the birth of the Internet. The good news is that things are getting better. There have been a number of recent product improvements—including enhanced offline conversion tracking from Google and Facebook—that have made it much easier to attribute offline actions to online campaigns. Given that this issue is so important to marketers (and their budgets), expect even more advancements in 2019.

6. The Need for (Mobile) SpeedLast year, Google gave businesses a clear message: mobile site speed is extremely important and will be used as a factor in determining search ranking.

The company made this move because consumers using mobile devices highly value fast-loading pages and have no patience for those that load slowly. The good news is that firms are getting the message: a Google analysis found that the average load time for a mobile page has decreased by seven seconds. The bad news is that it still takes 15 seconds on average for a mobile page to fully load—far too long to keep consumers engaged.

7. Location, Location, LocationThe old adage that a local business’s success is all about location, location, location is becoming even more apt as digital matures.

Thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and their built-in GPS capabilities, as well as more sophisticated ad targeting, it’s becoming increasingly possible to connect consumers with the businesses/offers most relevant to where they are. The effectiveness of this approach is expected to increase even more as technology improves, leading to greater investment by marketers. As a recent eMarketer report noted, location-targeted mobile ad spend is expected to nearly double in the next four years.

8. The Effectiveness of In-Person EventsWhen 800 local marketers were asked about which marketing tactics they found to be the most effective, two surprising approaches came out on top: local events (such as fairs, trade shows, etc.) and hosted events (such as seminars, classes, showcases, etc.).

The downside? Local events and hosted events also were ranked as the two most difficult tactics to execute.

This combination of high reward and high effort means that in-person events should be utilized judiciously by local businesses. And, while they may not always be the most efficient approach, they’re sometimes the most effective.

9. The End of the Traditional vs. Digital Ad DebateOver the past decade, as new platforms and devices rose in popularity, local marketers debated how much to embrace digital and whether traditional ad channels would soon disappear.

This may be the year to put those questions to rest. Digital clearly has become essential to daily life and is here to stay. In fact, young audiences now spend much more time streaming video than watching television. On the other hand, the rapid decline of ad spend on traditional channels has leveled off.

A survey of small- and medium-sized business owners found that 74% now use a combination of digital and traditional advertising methods and many have started to purchase media in cross-channel bundles. In other words, the debate is increasingly shifting away from whether digital or traditional advertising will triumph, and toward which mix of approaches is best for each individual business.

Ultimately, that highlights an important point: many of these trends are intertwined. Given that, success in 2019 will likely come from embracing the full range of changes across the local marketing landscape, not just focusing on one or two areas.

While it doesn’t tend to get the same buzz as channels such as social media, email quietly delivers extraordinarily impressive results for marketers year after year.

Just how impressive?

Email has a median ROI of 122%, more than four times higher than any other digital marketing format.

Email is nearly 40 times more effective than social channels in helping brands acquire new customers.

Marketers rank email as the channel that has the best combination of effectiveness and ease.

Email marketing has been steadily effective for so long that an important fact about it is often overlooked: it’s still evolving.

From the platforms that power campaigns to the ways consumers consume messages, email is undergoing profound changes.

What are some of these shifts? Which innovations and changes in behavior could have a big impact on the field in the next 12 months? Here are nine key email marketing trends we believe every brand should keep a close eye on in 2019:

1. The Ever-Growing Importance of DesignEmail began as a purely text-based channel and that has often continued to be the primary focus. Traditionally, marketers have paid some attention to things like headers and images, but the bulk effort has gone towards developing good copy.

Finally, that’s starting to change. Brands have begun to realize that effective campaigns are as much about the visuals as the words, and they are starting to focus on design elements such as icons, illustrations, and button colors. Expect to see even more of this in the year ahead as marketers witness increased engagement from their design efforts.

2. Mobile-First Becomes a MustWhat’s behind the increased focus on design? In part, the same thing that’s driving many of the current changes in email marketing: the shift from desktop/laptop computers to mobile devices.

Some 55% of emails are already opened on mobile devices, up from just 29% in 2012, and that share is expected to steadily grow in the coming years. In other words, email is now mobile-first and every decision that marketers make in the next 12 months (the length of messages, how they are displayed, etc.) should take that into account.

3. More Video Content in EmailsIn addition to the rise of mobile, there’s another broad digital trend that is impacting email marketing: the rise of video.

Video is expected to make up 80% of all Internet traffic by the end of 2019; 54% of consumers want to see more video content from marketers, and audiences say they are more likely to retain marketing messages delivered via video. Combine all that with the fact that email platforms are making it easier to deliver visual pieces in campaigns, and this could be the year that more video makes it into messages.

4. True Email PersonalizationFor a while email personalization was mainly superficial; marketers would “individualize” messages by simply including something like the recipients name.

Thanks to more powerful marketing platforms and richer data that has started to give way to true personalization. Brands are increasingly targeting highly specific content and offers to individuals based on past and predicted behavior.

This approach already yields impressive results — 82% of marketers report increased open rates with rich email personalization — and is set to become even more effective in the year ahead as tools become more sophisticated.

5. The Impact of Artificial IntelligenceWhy are email marketing platforms expected to become more sophisticated in 2019? Largely because of artificial intelligence.

AI is no longer something out of science fiction: the technology is now being implemented across a wide-range of areas. Concerning email specifically, artificial intelligence can already help marketers develop effective content (topics, subject lines, etc), optimize send times/frequency, and predict audience actions.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. AI is evolving rapidly and there should be many more real-world applications coming for email marketers in the year ahead.

6. The Increased Use of Triggered EmailsTriggered emails — messages delivered only when an individual has taken a certain action such as subscribing, abandoning a shopping cart, etc,. — have a 71% higher average open rate and 102% higher average click-through rate compared with general newsletters.

Those numbers are driven by the fact that marketers tend to have greater insight into intent when it comes to triggered emails (what the individual did/wants/etc.) and can deliver more relevant messaging. That effectiveness, and the fact that audiences tend to be less annoyed by triggered emails, is a strong argument for their increased use in 2019.

7. More Interactivity in Email CampaignsHere’s a simple fact that marketers often forget: emails can be interactive.

All too often, campaigns are thought of as being static rather than dynamic. Today, though, marketing platforms make it possible to add a host of interactive elements to emails, such as image carousels, hamburger menus, clickable hotspots, and navigational anchor tags.

There are also other more simple tactics marketers can utilize to enable audiences to engage with messages, such as including a ‘reply to us’ option for recipients. At minimum, brands should consider experimenting with this sort of basic interactivity to boost engagement in 2019.

8. Respecting Privacy and Data Rights Will Remain CriticalThe biggest email story of the past year was the GDPR. The regulations adopted by the EU put in place strict controls on how marketers can collect/use data and gave consumers much more control over their personal information. Suddenly, many of the approaches brands had taken for years, such as buying email lists, became questionable.

While the GDPR concerned European citizens, it was by no means an isolated event. Consumers across the world are deeply concerned about how brands are using their data and the issue is certain to remain at the forefront for years to come. Case in point: the California Consumer Privacy Act goes into effect in 2020 and will impact US email marketers in similar ways to the GDPR.

9. The Need for a Unique VoiceEvery day individuals and businesses send more than 293 billion emails, and that number is expected to increase to more than 333 billion by 2022.

In other words, consumers’ inboxes are flooded with messages.

How do you break through that noise to get your campaigns opened and read? In part, through some of the approaches already discussed: utilizing personalization to deliver highly relevant content, sending messages based on triggered actions, and optimizing subject lines with AI.

There’s also another way to stand out: by having a unique voice. That may sound like a little thing, but it’s hugely important. Developing a distinct tone gives marketers a big advantage when it comes to email; it makes messages different and instantly recognizable to audiences.

Of course, the need for a unique voice is nothing new — it’s been important since the advent of marketing. That highlights yet another thing that makes email amazing: it’s the perfect blend of old-school and new-school. Ultimately, it is the best of both worlds. It is a channel that remains very familiar to brands while also integrating the latest digital advances.

]]>9 Social Media Trends to Watch in 2019https://www.mdgadvertising.com/marketing-insights/9-social-media-trends-to-watch-in-2019/
Mon, 17 Dec 2018 13:00:25 +0000https://www.mdgadvertising.com/?p=31488When it comes to social media, the year ahead should be quite an interesting one for marketers.

On one hand, social media companies are in the midst of grappling with some very thorny issues — from privacy/data concerns to slowing growth — and the repercussions could bring challenges for platforms and marketers alike. On the other hand, platforms are continuing to evolve rapidly in order to boost engagement (longer time spent, more e-commerce purchases, etc.), and this will give brands access to many fresh approaches to achieve their goals.

Given all this, what are the shifts that businesses should be following closely? Which features, content types, tactics, and evolutions have the potential to significantly impact social media marketing efforts in the months ahead?

Here are nine of the key social media trends we believe every brand should watch closely in 2019:

1. Social StoriesWhile posts currently rule social media, a new format is coming for the throne: stories.

Stories — vertical-oriented, impermanent slideshows comprised of videos and images — are growing 15x faster than news feeds and already have 450 million daily users on WhatsApp, 400 million on Instagram, 70 million on Facebook Messenger, and 150 million on Snapchat (the platform that pioneered the feature).

As for the future, Facebook’s chief product officer believes, “the Stories format is on a path to surpass feeds as the primary way people share things with their friends” in 2019.

2. Social MessagingThe rise of the stories format is highly important to marketers, but another shift in social media behavior may be even more impactful: the rapid adoption of messaging apps.

In her 2018 Internet Trends report, tech soothsayer Mary Meeker highlighted a fact that marketers often overlook: three messaging platforms (WeChat, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger) now have more than 1 billion monthly active users, and the growth of these types of apps continues to be breathtaking.

It’s believed that the majority of digital sharing is now occurring on “dark” (i.e., one-to-one) channels such as messaging apps rather than via public feeds. This could have huge implications for brands looking to connect with audiences in 2019.

3. Privacy and TransparencyGiven the various recent scandals and breaches, it’s no wonder that people have become wary of how social networks approach privacy and information: more than half (51%) of Americans now say they do not trust platforms to protect their data.

Moreover, some 80% of consumers are concerned about the access advertisers have to what they post on social media and 81% of consumers want brands to focus on being transparent on social media.

This isn’t to say that social platforms aren’t thriving and central to people’s lives — more than two-thirds of American adults are on social media and most visit a network at least daily. Rather, it’s simply a reminder that social media is built on trust. If users stop trusting that their data is being protected and used properly, and if they don’t think advertisers are behaving openly and responsibly, they will stop engaging. That’s why both social marketers and the platforms themselves need to be hyper-vigilant about privacy and transparency in the year ahead.

4. On-Platform Shopping FeaturesOne thing that’s been puzzling about social networks over the past few years is that it’s remained relatively difficult to shop on them.

That’s finally changing. Platforms are rapidly adding features to please both consumers as well as brands, and it’s becoming increasingly easy to find, save, and purchase via social.

The best example of this is Instagram. Over the past few months the network has released a slew of updates that make on-platform shopping easier, including being able to add products to a collection, being able to see all of a business’s offerings on its profile page, and being able to use product tags in videos.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Instagram and other social platforms have strong incentives to make e-commerce more effective, so they are likely to continue to focus on the experience throughout 2019.

5. Communal Content ExperiencesAt the beginning of 2018, Mark Zuckerberg said he wanted to refocus Facebook on encouraging “meaningful interaction” and reduce the consumption of “passive content.”

One result of this shift was an update to the News Feed that prioritized “opportunities to interact with the people you care about.” Another was the development of Facebook Watch Party, a feature that allows people to watch videos simultaneously and interact.

In 2019, expect more products and updates from Facebook and other networks that encourage communal content experiences, especially around video.

6. Micro-influencers and Micro-brandsInitially advertising and influencer marketing on social media was all about big: macro-influencers like the Kardashians got all the attention, and the success stories touted by the social platforms concerned major brands committing large spends.

Now the pendulum is swinging towards small. Marketers are seeing that micro-influencers (those with fewer than 100,000 followers) can be just as, or more, effective as macro-influencers. Microbrands, such as Homesick Candles and Rowing Blazers, are transforming a wide-range of markets using social-first marketing strategies.

As digital marketing and campaign management platforms continue to improve their capabilities, expect these nimble influencers and businesses to continue to make a big impact in 2019.

7. Engagement MetricsBrands still can’t get enough Likes.

Despite an ever-increasing need to demonstrate ROI, many marketers continue to focus on social metrics, such as Likes, that give little indication of how effective content and ad offerings truly are.

While this approach is understandable — these have traditionally been the simplest data points to access and understand — it’s also outdated. It is now possible for marketers to easily see more useful metrics, such as those concerning engagement, so shifting focus should be a priority for brands of all sizes in the year ahead.

8. Augmented Reality ExperiencesAugmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are no longer buzzwords: the market for these products is forecast to exceed $298 billion by 2023.

While VR tends to get the most buzz, it’s AR — the layering of digital experiences on the real-world — that has the most potential for social media marketers in the near term.

AR features such as Snapchat’s Face and World Lenses are already used widely, and the increasingly powerful capabilities of smartphones have the potential to turn audiences into augmented reality creators. Given all that, it should be possible for social media marketers to develop some truly innovative AR experiences in 2019.

9. Responsive Customer ServiceOver the past few years, as social networks transformed largely into content and advertising distribution platforms, many marketers shifted away from thinking of them as customer service channels.

That’s a mistake.

Why? Because consumers notice how brands provide support via social: some 30% of people say say they would switch to a competitor if a brand ignores them on social media and and 71% say they would recommend a brand to others if they have a good social media service experience.

Just as social networks are refocusing on community, so too should social media marketers. Ultimately, by making an effort to provide high-quality, responsive customer service on social media, brands can set themselves up well not just for 2019, but also for years to come.

]]>MDG Announces the Winner of the 4th Annual ‘Looking Beyond College’ Essay Contesthttps://www.mdgadvertising.com/marketing-insights/mdgs-4th-annual-looking-beyond-college-essay-contest/
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 13:00:51 +0000https://www.mdgadvertising.com/?p=31418At a time when so much attention is focused on technology and science, it’s easy for students to lose sight of the importance of effective communication. Nonetheless, there’s never been a greater need for creativity and expression in the workplace.

To encourage students to pursue these skills, MDG recently held its Fourth Annual ‘Looking Beyond College’ Scholarship Essay Contest. The contest asked high school and currently enrolled college students to submit a creative essay on the topic of their dream job. Their incentive? A $1,000 college scholarship awarded for the best entry in any field of study.

Out of 57 promising submissions, one essay in particular stood out. Gabrianne Ivey, a college junior at Appalachian State University, captured both our attention and our hearts. Her emotional story demonstrated how her future immunotherapy career might someday benefit a child with leukemia.

We wish to thank all the talented students who submitted their essays for consideration. Please join us in congratulating Gabrianne on her winning entry, “The Eternity.” Here is an excerpt from her essay:

With my papers in hand and a smile on my face, I proceed to my clinical rounds. Cheerfully, I open the heavy wooden door, and meet my patient. I see a small hand clasped in a father’s. The small child willfully smiled at me. She looked pale, but it was barely noticeable behind the happy, carefree face and gentle curls that lined the head. A small tear dripped from the father’s eyes and landed softly on the child’s heart. “She has some form of Leukemia,” says the father in a shaky voice, “and chemotherapy doesn’t seem to be working.” He attempts to hold back his quavering voice, as the daughter affectionately leans her small frame on the father’s shoulder. She has no concept of the time she has left. I turn to the girl and gently ask, “Do you know what cancer is?” She responds in a solemn voice, “Daddy says it’s where people get sick, and sometimes don’t live.” I look sorrowfully at the poor girl, wishing to give her a fun experience of her dreams and so I inquire, “If you could do anything right now, what would you do?” The girl looks at the watery, red eyes of her father, turns to me, and promptly responds, “I would make daddy happy.”

In that moment, my perception of time slowed. Here was a girl, whose time on earth seemed so condensed. Yet, all she wanted was to please her father. There was my time, elongated relative to hers, yet all I could think about that day was how I was behind in my career and life due to participating in an MD/PhD program. I forgot that simple motive that brought me here: to please my Father in heaven by showing love to others through serving them.

I turn back to the girl, “I might have a way to help you do that,” I say to her slowly. The bright smile returned on the little girl’s face, “how?” she asked in her most child-like way. “Well,” I begin, “I have been working on this cancer cure call immunotherapy.”

Gabrianne is excited for what the future holds and plans to use the scholarship in her efforts to enroll in MD/PhD programs, allowing her to fulfill her goal of using medicine to help others globally in under-served areas. Congratulations Gabrianne, we’re excited to see you make your impact on the medical field!

While the title may not be scintillating, the contents of the report are likely to get marketers very excited. Why? Because it is based on an annual survey of well-respected SEO specialists and provides unique insights into the factors that matter most when it comes to local search.

So, what did the Moz researchers find this year? What is correlated with a high ranking? Which factors does Google appear to be prioritizing more and less? How have SEO experts been approaching local search differently over the past year?

Product/service keywords in reviews: Do Google reviews for the business include the product/service keywords consumers are searching for?

5. The Top Negative FactorsWhat really hurts a local business’s search rank?

The experts say the top negative factors are:

Listing detected as a false business address and/or is a PO Box, UPS Mail Store: Is the address not correct? Does it appear to be false/a scam?

Incorrect business category: Is the business’s Google My Business listing miscategorized?

Site hacked/presence of malware: Has the business’s website been compromised?

GMB listing with same address/phone marked as “permanently closed”: Has the location associated with the business been reported as closed?

6. The Top Factors Experts Are Focusing OnFinally, what do SEO experts think has become more important over time?

Survey respondents say the factors they’ve been focusing more on over the past year are:

Quality/authority of inbound links to the domain: Is the business getting referenced by high-quality sites?

Quantity of Google Posts posted: Is the business regularly using Google Posts, the tool that allows firms to put timely text, video, or photo content in front of customers via Google My Business?

Quantity of Native Google reviews (with text): Does the business have a critical mass of written reviews (not just ratings) from customers on Google?

Topical product/service keywords of domain content: Does the business’s content include relevant keywords?

Association of videos with GMB location: Does the business’s Google My Business listing include video content?

So, what should local businesses make of all this? Two of the biggest takeaways from the report are:

Google My Business really, really, really matters. It’s hard to overstate how important GMB has become to local search. To succeed on Google, it is now essential to get the little things right (address, category, etc.) and to optimize your presence via tactics such as utilizing Google Posts, developing rich content, and actively soliciting reviews.

Traditional SEO tactics still matter too. While local search is evolving rapidly, many of the foundational tactics of SEO remain highly effective. Don’t neglect approaches such as keyword optimization and developing high-quality inbound links.

As for what the year ahead will bring, Moz’s panel of SEO experts identified three key areas to watch:

Google may expand on features and content that answer questions or provide information within local search rather than taking users to websites.

Google could increasingly value behavioral signals that indicate the real-world popularity of businesses, such as phone call click-throughs and requests for driving directions.

Google might roll out new ad products targeted at local businesses and make moves to take a cut of the sales.

Will these predictions come true? Stay tuned for the 2019 Local Search Rankings Factor Report to find out.

]]>9 Resolutions Every Marketer Should Make for 2019https://www.mdgadvertising.com/marketing-insights/9-resolutions-every-marketer-should-make-for-2019/
Mon, 10 Dec 2018 13:00:43 +0000https://www.mdgadvertising.com/?p=31445As we head into the new year it’s time to make some resolutions.

On top of personal commitments — does eating healthier, getting physically fit, and saving more money sound familiar? — what should marketers seek to improve professionally? Which approaches should you embrace to make your marketing efforts more efficient and effective?

Here are nine resolutions we believe every marketer should consider making in 2019 to have a more productive and prosperous year:

1. I will use social media to engage, not just to postOver the past few years, many brands have fallen into the habit of using social networks primarily as distribution platforms for content and advertising. While this is certainly an important role, it is not the only one. In the year ahead, brands should remember that social media is a powerful tool for interacting with audiences, not just for delivering offerings.

Why is using social to engage so important? Because utilizing it as a service channel can lead to a big payoff: 71% of consumers who have had a good social media service experience with a brand say they are likely to recommend it to others.

2. I will embrace voice-controlled assistantsDigital is undergoing a profound shift that marketers should pay close attention to in 2019. Thanks to the integration of platforms such as Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant with smartphones and other devices, consumers are increasingly utilizing voice rather than typing to ask questions and issue commands.

Some 58% of consumers say they have already used voice search to find a local business and it is predicted that half of all searches may be conducted via voice by 2020. This is important to brands because voice and typing spark different types of queries and are processed in different ways by digital platforms. That means it’s necessary to employ targeted tactics to optimize your offerings for voice.

3. I will respect consumers’ privacy and protect their dataIn 2018, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gave consumers much more control over their digital privacy and imposed strict requirements on how businesses can collect and use data.

This should not be dismissed as a one-off event or as the act of overzealous European regulators: GDPR is just the tip of the iceberg and it highlights the growing concerns consumers across the globe have about how brands use and protect personal information. Given that, ensure that you are diligent in the year ahead about respecting consumers’ privacy and protecting their data.

4. I will focus on quality, not quantity, when it comes to contentHere’s a sobering statistic: it’s estimated that 5% of a brand’s content generates 90% of engagement, on average.

One takeaway from this is that quantity is not the solution to your problems: simply producing more and more pieces is not likely to attract more interest, boost interactions, or generate more revenue.

Ultimately, focusing on quality is vital. If you concentrate on developing a few superb pieces rather than on many mediocre ones, your content investment will reap a much higher return.

5. I will be transparent and honest with my audiencesWhat do people want from marketers on social media? Transparency.

Some 81% of consumers say brands have a responsibility on social networks to be transparent and 86% say a lack of transparency makes them more likely to take their business to a competitor.

As for what demonstrates transparency, it’s relatively simple: consumers say they want brands to admit mistakes, provide honest answers to questions, be clear on pricing, and avoid withholding information.

6. I will start with my mobile deviceIt’s no secret to brands that mobile is ascendant. More than two-thirds of Americans now use a mobile device to access the Internet and more than half of US online traffic originates from smartphones and tablets.

Despite this, when reviewing digital campaigns many marketers still default to using a computer. This desktop-first approach in a mobile-first age creates a disconnect between consumers and brands.

So, what can be done? Try learning from what a very old-school organization, The New York Times, did to emphasize the importance of mobile. For a period of time, the publication blocked the desktop version of its site in its offices, thereby forcing its staff to make their phones or tablets primary rather than secondary.

7. I will pay attention to the metrics that matterWhile measurement is always a good thing, many marketers continue to pay too much attention to vanity metrics and too little attention to actionable metrics.

What’s the difference? As HubSpot puts it: “Vanity metrics include data such as social media followers, page views, subscribers, and other flashy analytics that are satisfying on paper, but don’t move the needle for your business goals. They offer positive reporting, but no context for future marketing decisions — something actionable metrics can do.”

Often actionable metrics are more difficult than vanity metrics to collect and analyze, but the effort is worth it. Fundamentally, your marketing efforts will only become more effective if you truly know what is and isn’t working and if you know which specific things need to be done in order to improve.

8. I will maintain my brand voiceOften marketers will spend time developing their brand voice but then lose it when executing campaigns.

This is understandable. With constant demands on time, and so many channels to engage on, it’s a difficult challenge to concentrate on carrying your identity across everything you do.

Our advice: do it anyway. Your brand is your defining attribute and must be part of everything you create. We’ve seen over and over again that whether it’s through design cues or vocabulary, maintaining consistency in all facets of a brand can exponentially increase its recognizability.

9. I will embrace the changeFinally, here’s some food for thought: less than two decades ago Facebook and YouTube didn’t exist, the iPhone hadn’t been released, and print was the second-largest advertising channel.

In other words, while things may seem relatively stable in the moment it’s important to remember that we live in an age of rapid advancements. While emerging platforms and approaches may seem like just buzzwords today, they could soon be critical to marketers. For example, it’s estimated that the augmented reality and virtual reality markets will surpass $94 billion by 2023.

Of course, there’s no way to predict exactly what will become big and what will fizzle. What we do know is that things won’t stay the same. For marketers, then, the most important resolution may simply be to adopt a mindset. In the year ahead, don’t become entrenched; instead, start to get excited for what’s new and embrace the change.

]]>Facebook’s New Watch Party Feature 101https://www.mdgadvertising.com/marketing-insights/facebooks-new-watch-party-feature-101/
Thu, 29 Nov 2018 21:30:19 +0000https://www.mdgadvertising.com/?p=31389The online video revolution has made content more accessible and easier to create. However, one area where digital has lagged behind traditional video is in communal viewing. For the most part, online platforms have not been able to connect video consumption with socializing in order to replicate the experience of watching something in-person with others.

That’s the problem Facebook is trying to tackle with Watch Party, a product it launched in a significantly expanded form earlier this week.

What exactly is this feature? Is it really something new? Why should brands care? How might it evolve?

Here’s what marketers need to know:

What Is Facebook Watch Party?As Facebook puts it, “Watch Party enables people, creators, and publishers to watch, discuss and react to playlists of videos together in real time, in a shared space.”

Essentially, the feature allows individuals, organizations, and groups to schedule a video viewing event — either for a pre-recorded piece, series of pieces, or a livestream — and then have people simultaneously discuss what’s playing in real-time via comments. The idea is to make video viewing social and participatory rather than solitary and passive.

Is This a New Idea? What’s the Big Deal?Is Watch Party truly something new?

Sort of.

The idea itself has been around for a while and other services have their own take on it. For instance, Google launched an app called Uptime last year that enables users to react to YouTube videos together, live videos on Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) often have robust commenting, Twitter has always been a place where people react to things together in real-time, and there are a host of platforms (Twitch, House Party, etc.) that combine video and socializing.

Moreover, Watch Party itself has been around for a bit: the feature launched in beta in January and was released to Groups at the start of the summer.

So, why is what happened this week important? Largely because of Facebook’s unique scale and feature set.

The key part of the company’s announcement was that every Page and Profile on Facebook can now host a Watch Party. This means all of the service’s 2.27 billion users, plus all the communities and organizations that have a presence on the platform, will be be able to utilize the feature.

Why Should Brands Be Excited About Watch Party?For brands, Watch Party has the potential to ease a number of pain points.

Marketers have long understood the potential of using video to connect in real time with Facebook’s massive audience. However, the reality of trying to do so has been frustrating: often it’s been difficult to get a large number of users, and/or the right users, to view a video and interact with each other in the moment.

Because the Watch Party feature enables scheduling, invites, and notifications, the idea is that it should help with these challenges. With these tools, brands will be able to take important steps on the platform to motivate audiences.

According to Facebook, over the past few months Watch Party videos in Groups (where they were first tested) have received eight times as many comments as traditionally posted videos. That level of engagement bodes well for the product and is something brands should be excited about.

What Are Some Examples of Watch Party in Action?Facebook gave select users and organizations early access to the feature, so there are now some of examples of the feature in action.

BuzzFeed built interest for the new season of its Worth It series by hosting Watch Parties for fans to binge-watch episodes from previous seasons together.

Because the feature just rolled out to Pages, it has not yet been used extensively by brand marketers. There are, however, plenty of possibilities. For example, it could be a great tool for showcasing or releasing products and services as well as for rewarding specific audiences (imagine a Watch Party invite for select people, etc.).

What Should Marketers Keep in Mind with Watch Party?If your brand were throwing a party in real life you would likely pay close attention to the list of invitees, put effort into building interest, send out reminders, and make the experience worth people’s time.

Similarly, a Facebook Watch Party won’t succeed without thought and effort. It’ll be important to target the right audiences, market the event, and deliver a substantial video (e.g., as with Facebook Live content, the videos or playlists will probably need to be longer than 10 minutes).

How Could Watch Party Evolve in the Future?When Facebook launched the Watch Party beta, VP of Product Fidji Simo explained the reasoning behind its development, “As we think about video on Facebook, we’re focused on creating experiences that bring people closer together and inspire human connection instead of passive consumption.”

This syncs with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s intention to shift the company more and more towards, “personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other.”

In other words, Watch Party is perfectly in line with the company’s priorities and is likely to receive significant attention from the product team in the future.

This week’s announcement already included one enhancement — threaded comments that allow users to have sub-conversations within the larger conversation — and mentioned that the company was testing another Live Commenting feature that would allow a host to live-stream themselves picture-in-picture within a Watch Party as the main video plays.

This is likely just the beginning for Watch Party. And, because of its fit with Facebook’s priorities and the growing importance of video overall for the platform, this feature should continue to gain in prominence and evolve rapidly. Given that, marketers would be well served to start experimenting with Watch Party now and to keep a close eye on the product page to see how it is being improved.

]]>Instagram’s Newly Unveiled Shopping Features: What Brands Need to Knowhttps://www.mdgadvertising.com/marketing-insights/instagrams-newly-unveiled-shopping-features-what-brands-need-to-know/
Mon, 19 Nov 2018 20:23:20 +0000https://www.mdgadvertising.com/?p=31345Instagram has made it very clear what its top priority is this holiday season: shopping.

The social network has been focused on building out its capabilities over the past few months, unveiling two new eCommerce-focused features in September and adding three more last week. These new features make it much easier for users to discover products and for brands to showcase their offerings via the app.

So, what exactly are these new shopping features? Here is a quick overview of each:

1. Save to a Shopping CollectionThis adds a much-needed feature to Instagram: users who see products they like while browsing the social network can now save them to be revisited later.

The new functionality, which is similar to the wishlist function on other platforms, takes a slightly different approach by utilizing the preexisting collections feature.

The feature is pretty intuitive, product tags on the platform now include a save icon. When the icon is clicked it adds the item to a Shopping collection, which, like all other collections, can be accessed via the user profile.

2. Shop on Business ProfilesOne challenge facing firms looking to sell via Instagram has been the difficulty of showcasing a wide range of offerings in one place.

The platform is addressing this by redesigning the “Shop” tab on its business profiles. The new experience, which is still being tested, will present all of the products featured in a brand’s shopping posts together, along with each item’s name and price.

To access the full list of products, users will simply need to click on the “Shop” button within a business profile.

3. Shop Via Feed VideosThe addition of this third feature is no surprise, but it’s welcome nonetheless. Businesses can now add Product Tags to videos that appear in-feed, just as they’ve been able to do with photos for some time.

When users see a video from a brand they follow, they just need to tap the shopping icon in the bottom left corner and an overlay will appear with product information. Brands can include the item name, pricing, and a link to more information.

The service began testing this feature in June and rolled it out officially worldwide this fall. To access a tag, a user simply clicks the screen within one of the Stories, a “See Details” overlay then appears and, if clicked, it leads to a detailed product page.

5. Shopping Channel in ExploreWhen Instagram added Topics to its Explore section in June the idea was to allow users to browse across their various interests. Curiously, shopping was not one of the topics available.

That’s been corrected. The Shopping channel, which was unveiled in September and has been rolled out globally over the past few months, allows users to easily discover shopping-related posts from brands they follow or that they might like.

The featured posts appear in a grid and include a prominent Shopping icon, making it simple to go from discovery to purchase.

For businesses looking to make the most of these powerful new features, it’s important to remember that a series of steps must be taken to enable an account to post Shopping content (check out the details here). Also, keep in mind that these offerings are rapidly evolving, with functionality constantly being added and removed, so keep an eye on the service’s Info Center for the latest updates.